What do you think DCU's NASA does all day?

[Vidocq]

Think about it, Billions of dollars in space travel programs are useless when you could ask a guy who wears magic or extraterrestrial jewelry to pick up some rocks in Mars, Titan and Uranus while he is passing by those places in his morning jog.

And STAR Labs, Lexcorp and Wayne Enterprises already are the one stop place for cutting edge technology, most of which can travel faster than the speed of light, to the point were they could have Satelites and Space stations up and running in a matter of days. This companies are so advance that they have fake gravity in their stations and ships and their is no need of constant monitoring now that they have teleportation.

So really what would NASA do in the DCU?

[dreyga2000]

They probably spend all day attempting to reverse engineer alien space travel tech....

[TROUBLEZ]

It wouldn't really be a question if every other citizen weren't a superpowered being.

[CYOTI]

So really what would NASA do in the DCU?
Wasting tax payer dollars like the real NASA.

[Munkiman]

Does NASA still exist in the DCU? I'd assume so, but I can't recall encountering them in the (admittedly rather limited amount of) DC books I've read.

I'd assume that NASA would be relatively on par with LexCorp in terms of space travel technology, though probably not quite up to Lex's level, probably a lot of their technology would be copied or based on whatever LexCorp, STAR Labs and Wayne Enterprises are doing these days. Basically, NASA would still exist so that the government can still say they haven't completely given up space travel to private businesses.

And yeah, that is kind of a waste of money, especially since LexCorp has created a commercial spaceport, open to the public (as seen in Blue Beetle). And if NASA really wanted to do some scientific studies in space, maybe they could just request one of the Green Lanterns to ask the Guardians about whatever is making them curious, or get Superman to fly out and plant some sort of probe.

[AllisterH]

They probably spend all day attempting to reverse engineer alien space travel tech....

Not likely...The DCU heroes prevent alien tech from being reverse engineered if possible (See both Green Lantern, Justice League and Son of Vulcan)

[galactica]

Not likely...The DCU heroes prevent alien tech from being reverse engineered if possible (See both Green Lantern, Justice League and Son of Vulcan)

The US government would come into possession of alien tech despite the efforts of the GLs, the JLA and others. I'm sure the JLA could clean up most of the alien tech but they can't get all of it.


I would imagine that NASA in the DCU operates at a much higher level than NASA in the real world. Human technology and understanding of science is much higher in the DCU. There will be people as smart as Micheal Holt, Steel and Hardware(anyone else notice that? pretty cool) who are not superheroes and work for NASA.

[Xero]

They probably spend all day attempting to reverse engineer alien space travel tech....

According to the books that came after the Invasion mini-series, the United States, Europe, Russia, China, Africa and Australia all captured and reverse engineered alien technology. The Chinese used it to create the Great Ten, the Russians used theirs to create the Rocket Reds. By rights Australia and Africa should be the most advanced countries in the DCU since most of the alien tech was recovered by Southern Cross Salvage for the Australian government, and whatever African governments existed at the time (Australia and Africa were alien beachheads).

Task Force X, Checkmate and Kobra use a lot of reverse engineered alien technology.

Seeing as the DCU's NASA know for a fact that intelligent extraterrestial life existed on Venus (atmosphere only), Mars, Phaeton, Saturn, and inside Earth's moon what exactly do they do?

[Bloody Thumb]

I love this question. It's so obvious, yet i have no idea what the answer would be. Reminds me of some thing one of my pot head friends would have asked out of no where when i was in high school.

I would suppose that they are probably around the same Tech level as Lex Corp and what not. They are most likely working on colonizing the moon and space station building much like our NASA, only at a much higher tech level.

[Mister Blisterfists]

DCU's NASA serves a very important purpose in the world.

they construct space vehicles with inherent fatal flaws, then they put Lois Lane on them, so that Superman can rescue her.

[Retro315]

And STAR Labs, Lexcorp and Wayne Enterprises already are the one stop place for cutting edge technology, most of which can travel faster than the speed of light, to the point were they could have Satelites and Space stations up and running in a matter of days. This companies are so advance that they have fake gravity in their stations and ships and their is no need of constant monitoring now that they have teleportation.


And Japan's "Raiden Industries" as well - equivalent to S.T.A.R. Labs.

I suppose NASA sits around and grumbles about losing contract bids to more commercialized space exploration corporations, but still has the primary government assets.

Plus, their actual "extra-terrestrial studies" program, which is probably tiny in the real world equivalent considering we've yet to discover any evidence of actual extra-terrestrial life, must be massive in the DCU, since Earth has a pretty good knowledge of Kryptonians, Martians, Thanagarians, Rannians, and even some leftover E.B.E.s who'd made names for themselves on other Solar System planets like Saturn (Jemm, Faceless Hunters, Etc ...)

[mgs]

there was a discussion about this a while ago on the Marvel board I recall. And I agree with your assessment.

In the Marvel U and DCU, it seems quite ridiculous that people have not moved beyond their own planet by now, with all the supertechnology and such. I think it's a suffocating idea that squashes original thought and ideas for their universes that try and be 'earth-centric' by almost completely ignoring the rest of space, except for a story here and there.

Maybe they think moving beyond Earth would make the stories seem more science fiction than superhero, but in my mind, that would not be a bad thing, nor true.

Or maybe the writers are stiffled by their own limitations and imaginations? I dunno. All I know is that it seems like editorial constantly has stories in the DCU moving back, and not 'realistically' forward. (same goes for the Marvel U, obviously)

[K-DoG7p7]

In the real world, it seems quite ridiculous that people have not moved beyond their own planet by now, with all the spacetechnology and such. I think it's a suffocating idea that squashes original thought and ideas for their universes that try and be 'earth-centric' by almost completely ignoring the rest of space, except for a probe here and there.

Maybe they think moving beyond Earth would make the human race seem more intelligent than God fearing , but in my mind, that would not be a bad thing, nor true.

Or maybe the congressmen/senators are stiffled by their own limitations and imaginations? I dunno. All I know is that it seems like NASA constantly has Space exploration moving back, and not 'realistically' forward.
I just made it real! (could have done it better)

[DeTroyes]

So really what would NASA do in the DCU?

Probably much less space exploration and more space exploitation, especially in matters regarding transportation safety. Remember, NASA stands for "National Aeronautics and Space Administration".

They do a lot of work on airline safety and new technology development. In the DCU, they'd probably spend the bulk of their time making sure the alien technology that has been reverse engineered not only works but is as safe to operate as they can make it. Also, figuring out how much stress said equipment can take and what are the likely problems that will develop over long term use. Which is pretty much what our NASA does.

[Mundungus]

there was a discussion about this a while ago on the Marvel board I recall. And I agree with your assessment.

In the Marvel U and DCU, it seems quite ridiculous that people have not moved beyond their own planet by now, with all the supertechnology and such. I think it's a suffocating idea that squashes original thought and ideas for their universes that try and be 'earth-centric' by almost completely ignoring the rest of space, except for a story here and there.

Maybe they think moving beyond Earth would make the stories seem more science fiction than superhero, but in my mind, that would not be a bad thing, nor true.

Or maybe the writers are stiffled by their own limitations and imaginations? I dunno. All I know is that it seems like editorial constantly has stories in the DCU moving back, and not 'realistically' forward. (same goes for the Marvel U, obviously)

I agree. Realistically, both Marvel Earth and DC Earth should be constructing their own mini empires by now. Marvel insists on being the "real world" except with superbeings, and DC's Earth, while less restricted in that regard (fictional presidents, for instance), is still more of a reflection of the real world.

Thus, we'll never see an Earth Empire for either universe, except in alternate future stories like Fantastic Four: The End.

[Mat001]

This was addressed back in 1996 with Superman #112. In the issue, Superman has been asked by NASA to serve as a back-up in case the first manned mission to Mars runs into trouble. Mainly to help them deploy their parachutes or something. But they didn't want Superman to touch down on Mars when this happened. They didn't want to rely on him unless it was absolutely necessary. Clark understood since it was an achievement meant for mankind. They knew that he had been to Mars and that J'onn J'onzz was from there. But it was still something for humans to explore and conquer. Not Kryptonians and native Martians.

Granted, Lexcorp was ahead of the curve for years, but now it's in bankruptcy.

[Slaughter]

Ins't the American Governament in possession of Boom Tube technology since Luthor's presidency? Luthor fired some nuclear missiles at that Australia-sized Kryptonite meteor using boom tubes, and the villains in Salvation Run were sent to the planet by the way of a Boom Tube... but it was intercepted by Darkseid and rerouted. In JLA it is pretty much said the whole thing was NOT the governament fault, they sent the prisioners to a pretty cool planet except for the presence of Kanjar Ro, who saw the Tube being rerouted.

[AllisterH]

You know, I got a question...

What does the US government spend its money on in DC? In real life, about 66% of the discretionary budget is eaten up by the military but does this remain true in the DCU?

[Mat001]

You know, I got a question...

What does the US government spend its money on in DC? In real life, about 66% of the discretionary budget is eaten up by the military but does this remain true in the DCU?

I would assume so, since we've seen the military from time to time during big events and smaller stories. The rest goes into the usual areas. Though I think there's some differences for areas like Checkmate and the DEO.

[jv2k]

You know, I got a question...

What does the US government spend its money on in DC? In real life, about 66% of the discretionary budget is eaten up by the military but does this remain true in the DCU?
Considering all the invasions and whatnot I would think the military budget would be enormous.

[AllisterH]

Considering all the invasions and whatnot I would think the military budget would be enormous.

And given the ineffectiveness?

From a voter standpoint, the military would be seen as superfluous....I personally always thought superheroes would cause a rise in libertarian voters as more than anything, superheroes seem to explicitly say "See, you don't need government to protect you....then what are they taxing you for?"

(Especially in gotham....the annual gotham police fund raiser has got to be poorly supplied other than by Wayne)